Apparatus and method for hanging an item on a wall

ABSTRACT

An appartus for hanging items on a wall comprises a backing plate with a substantially square mounting plate portion and a plurality of apertures formed in the backing plate. The backing plate is anchored in a wall and then a supporting peg is inserted into one of the plurality of apertures. An item can then be hung on the supporting peg. By selectively adjusting the position of the supporting peg, the exact hanging location for the item can be quickly and easily adjusted, without altering the position of the backing plate.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Technical Field

The present invention relates generally to the field of decorating andmore particularly to the field of hanging various decorative items on awall.

2. Background Art

One popular method of decorating a home or an office is to hangpictures, posters, diplomas, etc. on a wall. For the most part, this isa fairly straightforward proposition. However, it can be a verydifficult thing to do very well. For example, one of the most commonmethods for hanging items on a wall is to simply pound a nail or someother anchor point into the wall in the desired location. While the actof pounding a nail into the wall is a very simple task, getting the nailin the desired location can be somewhat challenging. It often seems thatthe nail is just a little too low, a little too high, too far to theleft or two far to the right. This problem can be exacerbated whenhanging a large item that requires two or more anchor points in thewall. In this situation, any misalignment in the location of the anchorpoints can make it very difficult to get the item to hang with theappropriate horizontal alignment.

To alleviate the difficulties associated with the hanging of items on awall, various methods and devices have been adopted. For example, theuse of measuring tapes and other tools are commonly employed toaccurately located the desired anchor points for hanging an item on thewall. Additionally, the use of lasers and other light sources to ensurehorizontal alignment has become quite common.

While a number of tools and devices have been developed for accuratelylocating an anchor point for hanging an item on the wall, the overallprocess is still somewhat “hit and miss.” The main problem is that oncean anchor point has been placed in the wall, the movement and relocationof the anchor point inevitably leaves an unsighly hole that must becovered or repaired. It is not uncommon to see a series of holes made ina wall where numerous attempts are required to find the most desirablepostion for the anchor point. This can be the result of hitting a studin the wall, inadvertent misalignment of the anchor points, etc.

As shown by the previous discussion, without additional improvements inthe methods for hanging objects on a wall, the efficiency andeffectiveness of the process will continue to be suboptimal.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An appartus for hanging items on a wall comprises a backing plate with asubstantially square mounting plate portion and a plurality of aperturesformed in the backing plate. The backing plate is anchored in a wall andthen a supporting peg is inserted into one of the plurality ofapertures. An item can then be hung on the supporting peg. Byselectively adjusting the position of the supporting peg, the exacthanging location for the item can be quickly and easily adjusted,without altering the position of the backing plate.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The preferred embodiments of the present invention will hereinafter bedescribed in conjunction with the appended drawings, wherein likedesignations denote like elements and:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an appartrus for hanging an item on awall in accordance with a preferred exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is a side view of an apparatus for hanging an item on a wall inaccordance with a preferred exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention; and

FIG. 3 is a flow chart for a method of hanging an item on a wall inaccordance with a preferred exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

An appartus for hanging items on a wall comprises a backing plate with asubstantially square mounting plate portion and a plurality of aperturesformed in the backing plate. The backing plate is anchored in a wall andthen a supporting peg is inserted into one of the plurality ofapertures. An item can then be hung on the supporting peg. Byselectively adjusting the position of the supporting peg, the exacthanging location for the item can be quickly and easily adjusted,without altering the position of the backing plate.

Referring now to FIG. 1, an apparatus 100 for hanging an item on a wallin accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Asshown in FIG. 1, apparatus 100 includes a mounting plate 110 with twomounting apertures 140 and a plurality of supporting apertures 150formed in mounting plate 110. Mounting fasteners 120 are insertedthrough mounting apertures 140 and then into a wall, thereby affixingsubstantially square mounting plate 110 to the wall. Once mounting plate110 has been affixed to the wall, mounting peg 130 can be removablyinserted into any of supporting apertures 150 and a picture or otheritem may then be hung from mounting peg 130. If the first selectedlocation for mounting peg 130 is not quite right, then it can be quicklyand easily removed from the first supporting apeture 150 and relocatedto a more suitable supporting apeture 150. In this fashion, a singlemounting plate 110 can be used for multiple locations of mounting peg130.

In order to maximize the probability of success for the desired locationof mounting peg 130, the size and shape of mounting plate 110 and thenumber of supporting apertures 150 formed in mounting plate 110 can bevaried as desired. In the most preferred embodiments of the presentinvention, mounting plate 110 is substantially square with at least25-50 supporting apertures formed in a substantially square mountingplate 110. However, those skilled in the art will recognize that thesize and shape of mounting plate 110 and the number of supportingapertures 150 are highly variable and are not limited by any exemplaryembodiments set forth herein. Mounting fasteners 120 are preferrablynails that are pounded into the wall until the heads of the nails areflush with the surface of mounting plate 110. Additionally, whilemounting fasteners 120 are depicted in FIG. 1 and described herein asnails, those skilled in the art will recognize that screws and othersuitable types of fasteners may also be used.

Mounting peg 130 is most preferably a slender device with a retainingcollar 135 positioned approximately halfway between the endpoints ofmounting peg 130. Retaining collar 135 serves to prevent mounting pegfrom being over inserted into mounting plate 110 while ensuring that anappropriate amount of mounting peg 130 is available for hanging apicture or other item on the mounting peg 130. The diameter of retainingcollar 135 is manufactured so as to be slightly larger than the diameterof supporting apertures 150. This prevents mounting peg 130 from beingoverinserted into supporting apertures 150.

Referring now to FIG. 2, a side view of apparatus 100 from FIG. 1 isdepicted attached to a wall section 210. As shown in FIG. 2, mountingapertures 140 and supporting apertures 150 are formed in mounting plate110 at approximately a 45° angle to the surface of mounting plate 110and the surface of wall section 210. In this fashion, fasteners 120 andmounting peg 130 are inserted at a 45° angle to the surface of wallportion 210, thereby allowing the force of gravity to assist in thesupporting of mounting plate 110 and, in turn, the object that is hungon mounting peg 130. This is similar to the inserting of a nail at a 45°angle when pounding a nail into wall 210 to support a picture or otheritem on the nail. Those skilled in the art will recognize that the anglefor forming mounting apertures 140 and supporting apertures 150 inmounting plate 110 may vary substantially from 45° without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the present invention.

Referring now to FIG. 3, a method 300 for hanging an item on a wall inaccordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention isdepicted. As shown in FIG. 3, the first step is to attach or affix amounting plate to a wall in approximately the desired location (step310). Once the mounting plate is attached to the wall, a mounting pegcan be inserted into one of the supporting apertures (step 320) and anobject may be hung from the mounting peg (step 330). If the object isnot hanging in the desired location on the wall, then the object can beremoved from the mounting peg (step 340), a new location for themounting peg can be selected (step 350) and then the mounting peg can beinserted into the new location by inserting the mounting peg into theappropriate supporting aperture (step 360). Then the object can be onceagain hung on the mounting peg (step 330). As shown in FIG. 3, step330-360 can be repeated as necessary until the object is positioned inthe desired location.

In summary, the present invention provides an apparatus and method forhanging items on a wall without undue effort or trial-and-error. Byimplementing one or more of the preferred embodiments disclosed herein,varous items can be quickly and easily hung on a wall in the desiredlocation. Lastly, it should be appreciated that the illustratedembodiments are preferred exemplary embodiments only, and are notintended to limit the scope, applicability, or configuration of thepresent invention in any way. Rather, the foregoing detailed descriptionprovides those skilled in the art with a convenient road map forimplementing the preferred exemplary embodiments of the presentinvention. Accordingly, it should be understood that various changes maybe made in the function and arrangement of elements described in thevarious preferred exemplary embodiments without departing from thespirit and scope of the present invention as set forth in the appendedclaims.

1. An apparatus comprising: a mounting plate for hanging an item on awall, the mounting plate comprising a plurality of supporting apertures;a selectivley removable and repositionable supporting peg removablyinserted into one of the supporting apertures.
 2. The apparatus of claim1 further comprising an object hanging from the supporting peg.
 3. Theapparatus of claim 1 wherein the selectivley removable andrepositionable supporting peg comprises: a first end; a second end; anda collar positioned approximately midway between the first end and thesecond end.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising at least twomounting apertures formed in said mounting plate.
 5. The apparatus ofclaim 4 further comprising at least two nails inserted through themounting apertures into a wall, thereby affixing the mounting plate tothe wall.
 6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the mounting platecomprises a substantially square mounting plate.
 7. The apparatus ofclaim 6 wherein said supporting peg comprises: a first end; a secondend; and a collar positioned approximately midway between the first endand the second end.
 8. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the supportingapertures form approximately a 45° angle with a surface of the mountingplate.
 9. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein the mounting apertures formapproximately a 45° angle with a surface of the mounting plate.
 10. Theapparatus of claim 1 wherein the supporting apertures form approximatelya 45° angle with a surface of the mounting plate and the mountingapertures form approximately a 45° angle with a surface of the mountingplate.
 11. An apparatus for hanging items on a wall, the apparatuscomprising: a substantially square mounting plate, the substantiallysquare mounting plate comprising: a first mounting aperture formed inthe mounting plate; a second mounting aperture formed in the mountingplate; and a plurality of supporting apertures formed in the mountingplate; a first mounting nail, the first mounting nail being insertedthrough the first mounting aperture and into the wall; a second mountingnail, the second mounting nail being inserted through the secondmounting aperture and into the wall; a selectivley removable andrepositionable supporting peg, the supporting peg comprising: a firstend; a second end; and a collar positioned approximately midway betweenthe first end and the second end the supporting peg being inserted intoone of the plurality of supporting apertures; and an item hanging fromand being supported by the supporting peg.
 12. A method for hanging anitem on a wall comprising the steps of: affixing a mounting plate to thewall, the mounting plate comprising a plurality of mounting aperturesand a plurality of supporting apertures by inserting at least twomounting nails through at least two of the plurality of mountingapertures; and inserting a selectivley removable and repositionablesupporting peg into one of the plurality of apertures;
 13. The method ofclaim 12 wherein the step of affixing a backing plate to the wallcomprises the steps of: inserting a first mounting nail through a firstmounting aperture; and inserting a second mounting nail through a secondmounting aperture.
 14. The method of claim 12 wherein the supporting pegcomprises: a first end; a second end; and a collar positionedapproximately midway between the first end and the second end.
 15. Themethod of claim 12 further comprising the step of hanging an item on thesupporting peg.
 16. The method of claim 12 wherein said backing plate isa substantially square backing plate.
 17. The method of claim 12 furthercomprising the steps of: removing the selectively removable supportingpeg from one of the apertures; selecting a different aperture; insertingthe selectivley removable supporting peg into the different aperture;and hanging an item on the supporting peg.
 18. The method of claim 13where in the step inserting a first mounting nail through a firstmounting aperture comprises the step of inserting the first mountingnail through the first mounting aperture at approximately a 45° anglewith a surface of the mounting plate and the step inserting the secondmounting nail through the second mounting aperture comprises the step ofinserting the second mounting nail through the second mounting apertureat approximately a 45° angle with a surface of the mounting plate.